Russia has signed an agreement with Egypt for delivery of forty-six
Kamov Ka-52K navalized attack helicopters, the Director General of the
JSC Russian Helicopters holding company, Alexander Mikheyev, said on
Wednesday. The Ka-52K Katran (Nato reporting name: Hokum-B) is the naval
variant of the Ka-52 Alligator designed for the French-made Mistral
LHDs which the Egyptian Navy recently acquired (and which were
originally intended for the Russian Navy).

"In
this knotty situation, we've managed to keep up the financial parameters
reached previously and to broaden the presence of Russian helicopter
technologies in the world market," he said. "For instance,
a large agreement for delivery of forty-six Ka-52 Alligator helicopters
has been signed with Egypt through [the state weaponry trading company]
Rosoboronexport."

The navalised version of the Alligator features a folding rotor head and
folding stub-wings.
Image: KRET

In
the summer, a source in the military diplomatic milieu told TASS Egypt
had commissioned Ka-52 helicopters to Russia. Another source said several
months later the case in hand was 50 helicopters and the handover of the
sea-based version of the Ka-52 developed and built for deployment aboard
the Mistral class helicopter carriers built in France upon an order from
the Russian Navy

The Ka-52K helicopter is a ship-based version of the Ka-52 reconnaissance
and attack helicopter. Unlike the baseline helicopter, the Ka-52K rotorcraft
features folding main rotor blades and wing panels. The Ka-52K helicopter
has reinforced landing gear.

The helicopter is capable of launching Kh-38 and Kh-35 cruise missiles.
Previously, these missiles could be launched only from the board of Mikoyan
MiG-29K/KUB (Fulcrum-D) ship-based multipurpose fighter jets or aircraft
of the Sukhoi Su-30 (Flanker-C) family.